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If you’re anything like me, you probably spend most of your Saturdays at home. Whether I’m recovering on the busy week at work, catching up with the TV series I missed or doing laundry, the things I do still seem to be like tasks that I didn’t have a choice but to do. But last Saturday was different. Together with my friends, I headed all the way to Tagaytay for an all-girls road trip and we dropped by Solenad 3 in Nuvali to visit Muni Market before heading back to Manila.

I’ve been to a previous Muni market and if there’s anything that I remember well, it was the good food. So appropriately, our first order of business was to find snacks. We passed by a strawberry lemonade stand and decided to get an order. No hipster mason jars, no cute cocktail umbrellas nor fancy straws. Just some freshly squeezed fruits. We also got fruit popsicles from Picolé. With our snacks on hand, we made our plan of attack. The event area wasn’t too big so we though we would be done in 30 minutes. But as soon as I started to walk around, I knew I was going to stay a little bit longer. They had me at free samples.

Muni Market had everything from Kimochi Aroma’s herbal pillows that can double as hot or cold compress, TreeHugger World’s staple-less staplers (which comes in a panda design, btw!), to Katch PH’s literature-inspired designs for tote bags and post cards. Upon walking up to the stall, the merchants even take the time to explain what their products are made of and what greater personal, environmental, or social good inspired them to make it. Katch PH is in support of indigenous books and building community libraries while TreeHugger World’s arts and crafts materials are created with better waste management and reforestation in mind. These are just some of the many brands that were there at Muni Market to sell products and more importantly, promote a more conscious lifestyle. What I once thought were ordinary things that I could buy in passing at the mall could also be the little things that I can start with to achieve the changes that I want for myself and for those around me.

It’s quite easy to feel like we’re stuck with the kind of life we have simply because we accept that it is just the way things are. But if only we care enough to question and actively choose better for ourselves and for those around us, we find that we do have a choice in what it is that we do, support, and buy. All it really takes is to put in more effort and be surrounded by like-minded people and that’s what the Muni community is all about.